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The term "gunship" is used in several contexts, all sharing the general idea of a light craft armed with heavy guns.

a class="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m1329954",this)' onMouseout='hide("m1329954")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Navy">navies
Navy

A navy is the branch of a nation's military forces principally designated for naval warfare and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions....
, the term originally appeared in the mid-1800s as a less-common synonym for gunboat
Gunboat

A gunboat is literally a boat carrying one or more guns. The term is rather broad, and the usual connotation has changed over the years ....
.

In military aviation
A gunship may be in reference to an attack helicopter
Attack helicopter

An attack helicopter is a military helicopter specifically designed and built to carry weapons for attacking targets on the ground, such as enemy infantry, armored vehicles and structures....
, such as a Mil Mi-24
Mil Mi-24

The Mil Mi-24 is a large helicopter gunship and low-capacity troop transport produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and operated from 1972 by the Soviet Air Forces, its successors, and over thirty other nations....
 or an AH-64 Apache
AH-64 Apache

The AH-64 Apache is an all-weather day-night military attack helicopter with a four-bladed main and tail rotor and a crew of two pilots who sit in tandem....
.

Another application of the term for military aircraft is more specific, describing a vehicle that is capable of circling its target instead of performing strafing
Strafing

Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft. The term is usually applied to attacks with aircraft-mounted automatic weapons, but may be applied to attacks with bombs, though not high-level bomb delivery....
 runs.






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Encyclopedia


The term "gunship" is used in several contexts, all sharing the general idea of a light craft armed with heavy guns.

In navy

In navies
Navy

A navy is the branch of a nation's military forces principally designated for naval warfare and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions....
, the term originally appeared in the mid-1800s as a less-common synonym for gunboat
Gunboat

A gunboat is literally a boat carrying one or more guns. The term is rather broad, and the usual connotation has changed over the years ....
.

In military aviation


A gunship may be in reference to an attack helicopter
Attack helicopter

An attack helicopter is a military helicopter specifically designed and built to carry weapons for attacking targets on the ground, such as enemy infantry, armored vehicles and structures....
, such as a Mil Mi-24
Mil Mi-24

The Mil Mi-24 is a large helicopter gunship and low-capacity troop transport produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and operated from 1972 by the Soviet Air Forces, its successors, and over thirty other nations....
 or an AH-64 Apache
AH-64 Apache

The AH-64 Apache is an all-weather day-night military attack helicopter with a four-bladed main and tail rotor and a crew of two pilots who sit in tandem....
.

Another application of the term for military aircraft is more specific, describing a vehicle that is capable of circling its target instead of performing strafing
Strafing

Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft. The term is usually applied to attacks with aircraft-mounted automatic weapons, but may be applied to attacks with bombs, though not high-level bomb delivery....
 runs. According to such a definition, the AC-130 Spectre/Spooky
Lockheed AC-130

The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily-armed ground-attack aircraft. The basic airframe is manufactured by Lockheed, and Boeing is responsible for the conversion into a gunship and for aircraft support....
 is a gunship.

Such other examples of fixed-wing aircraft are the AC-47 and the AC-119.